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Women hold more than half of entry-level corporate jobs but fewer than a fifth of C-suite positions -- and that's a problem companies need to solve. To convince executives of the need for action, it's important to emphasize the tangible impact this issue will have on corporate performance, writes SmartBrief on Leadership editor James daSilva. "A world in which we're inexcusably losing some of our best talents and perspectives is one where our companies face increased financial, strategic and marketing blind spots," he writes.

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When Reckitt Benckiser CEO Rakesh Kapoor was young, he was given a bitter-tasting medical treatment that he endured without complaint. A similar level of stoicism is a prerequisite for successful leadership, Kapoor says. "You have to swallow many bitter pills in your life," he explains. "You just can't keep complaining about how life should be. You've got to accept the way you have to run your life and then do the very best you can."

Industrial robots are getting safer, with advancements finally making it possible for humans and production-line robots to work safely in close proximity. The debate is what this means for humans: even more jobs displaced by robotics or a chance for humans to work better and later into life?

CEOs need to learn to identify and overcome their "personal blind spots," says Francisco D'Souza, chief executive of Cognizant. That means pushing yourself to try things that feel alien to you. "I always tell myself that if I wake up in the morning and feel comfortable, I'm probably not pushing myself hard enough," he says.

Clara Lippert Glenn, CEO of the Oxford Princeton Program, asks sales candidates to imagine that "there were no humans left on the Earth -- just animals -- what kind of animal are you?" The best candidates tend to see themselves as predators, Glenn says -- lions or velociraptors with a voracious appetite for closing. Glenn would prefer to be a great white shark. "You're the top of the food chain," she says.

The economy moves in cycles, with recent peaks coming every 106 months on average, writes Gregory V. Milano. Companies need to do a better job of planning for the regular dips and troughs of the local and global economies, rather than just extrapolating from their present situation, Milano argues. "Somehow, despite all of history we never seem to be ready for each cyclical turn," he writes.